What Type of Shapes Did Gauguin Use Most Often?

Gauguin's work is often described as Post-Impressionist, and his use of color and boldness of brushstrokes is definitely indebted to that movement. But his approach to painting was always highly individual. He was a great admirer of Japanese woodblock prints, and the flat, simplified shapes in his work reflect that influence. He also used a great deal of symbolism in his paintings, often referencing religious or mythological themes.

Some of Gauguin's most famous paintings feature Tahitian subjects. The island's lush vegetation and bright flowers provided a rich palette for him to work with. He often used very textured, daring strokes of color to create a highly expressive effect. His use of shape was also integral to his compositions; he often simplified forms to their most basic state, using geometric shapes to achieve a sense of order and calm.

While Gauguin's work was not always well-received by the critics of his day, his bold use of color and shape helped him to create some of the most memorable paintings of the late 19th century.

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Gauguin used these shapes in his paintings to express his feelings about the world around him. He was trying to convey his emotions through his art, and these shapes helped him to do that.

In the 1890s, Paul Gauguin increasingly used geometric forms— especially the triangle, circle, and rectangles—to organize paintings, as seen in The Yellow Christ (1889, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York) and in Tahitian Women on the Beach (1891, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City). This format can be seen as a way of grounding his compositions, which were often filled with numerous, sometimes disparate, elements. The shapes also convey a certain stability, which is in keeping with the serene and otherworldly quality that Gauguin aspired to in his work.

The shapes Gauguin used also helped to create a sense of depth in his paintings. The artist often juxtaposed areas of different colors within the same geometric form, as in the yellow Christ figure against the blue sky in The Yellow Christ. This juxtaposition of colors within a defined shape creates the illusion of depth and distance, pulling the viewer into the painting.

The use of geometric shapes was not only a means of creating stability and depth in Gauguin’s paintings, but also a way of expressing his own unique vision of the world. The artist sought to convey a sense of otherness in his work, and the shapes he used were one way of achieving this. The abstract forms also allowed Gauguin to experiment with color, line, and space in a new way, freeing him from the conventions of traditional painting.

In Gauguin’s later work, the shapes he used became even more simplified and abstract. This can be seen in paintings such as The Vision After the Sermon (1888, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), in which the figures are reduced to basic geometric forms. The shapes in these paintings convey a sense of order and calm, which is in keeping with Gauguin’s desire to create a peaceful, utopian world in his art.

Some of Gauguin's most famous paintings are those in which he used shapes to create a sense of space and depth. In his painting "Nave nave moe," for example, Gauguin used distinctively shaped trees to create a sense of distance and depth. In "The Yellow Christ," Gauguin again used shapes to great effect, this time using the shape of the cross to create a feeling of tension and movement.